Local inventory ads and free local listings overview

With free local listings, the in-store products you sell can appear at no cost on Google Search, Google Maps, YouTube, the Shopping tab, Google Images, and Google Lens.

For Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, the UK, Ukraine, the US, UAE and Vietnam, after clicking on a local listing, users will be redirected to an in-store product and price availability page hosted on Google:

For Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, after clicking on a local listing, we will show a product viewer with product and store information:

Local inventory ads can help you boost online and in-store sales by reaching customers from more places across Google. You can leverage pickup later with product data or add in-store inventory automatically from your online store to Merchant Center to provide inventory data faster.

You are also able to highlight your store pickup options directly on your ads:

• Use the pickup today feature to showcase which of your products can be reserved or bought online and picked up in store within the same day or the next day.
• Use the pickup later with in-store inventory data feature to advertise products which are currently not available in your stores but that can be picked up in store within a specific SLA.
• Use pickup later with product data without being required to provide full inventory information. Advertise your products that can be picked up in store within a specific SLA.

Once the local inventory ads or free local listings add-on has been activated, you’ll be able to select the countries you want to participate in.

Click Continue setup next to the country where you want your add-on to be activated.

Add your stores. If you haven’t added stores to your Merchant Center account, you can either add stores or connect your existing stores’ business profiles to Merchant Center to enable local inventory ads and free local listings.

As an option, you can add your logos and colors. Logos and colors will be used for free local listings. It’ll also be used if you have local inventory ads and your product pages do not show in-store availability.

For your in-store product availability, if you know the inventory information for your physical stores, click let customers know what I have in stock in my individual stores.

You must regularly provide Google your inventory information per store. This can be done using inventory data or by assigning inventory to your stores directly using Merchant Center.

If you don’t know the inventory information for your physical stores but you can ship products to your stores for pickup, click let customers know that I can ship products to stores.

You must provide the pickup turnaround time of your products on your website and in your product data to let customers know when the item will be available in your store for pickup. Learn more about implementing pickup later with product data.

If you select let customers know that I can ship products to stores, skip to step 5.

This step is required for merchants that know their physical stores’ inventory to indicate the website functionality.

Product pages with in-store availability: Choose this option if your website loads the product pages with an option to browse availability of products in different physical locations. You’ll be asked to provide the link to a product that contains the ability to browse locations for verification. This option is also recommended for single-store merchants that show their in-store availability alongside their online availability.

By choosing this option, the price served will be the one provided in the primary data source. Learn more About product pages with in-store availability.

Store-specific product pages with availability and price: Choose this option if your website is able to load the product price and availability for a specific store based on the Google Business Profile store code that will be embedded in your product page URL. You’ll be asked to provide the link to a store-specific product with a Google Business Profile store code attached to it for verification.

By choosing this option you’ll also have to provide the link template [link_template] attribute in your product data with the {store_code} ValueTrack parameter. Products without link template [link_template] attribute will be disapproved.

Learn more About store-specific product page with in-store availability and price.

Product pages without in-store availability: Choose this option if your website doesn’t display the availability of a product in your physical store. Google will generate an experience where your product will be displayed, along with store information. Learn more about in-store product and price availability hosted on Google.

If you have product pages with in-store availability and are onboarding into local inventory ads, you can enhance your in-store products with a pick up annotation that is compatible with your website:

• Customers can pick them up on the same or next day: If customers are able to buy or reserve an item online and pick it up in store the same or next day, you can select this option to promote your local products as 'pickup today' or ‘pickup tomorrow’. You’ll have to provide the pickup method and turnaround time (pickup SLA) through your inventory data and the turnaround time must also be clearly displayed on your website’s product pages or at checkout. Enter a URL to a product available for pickup today for validation. Learn more about pickup today requirements.
• Customers can pick them up later at a store: If customers are able to buy or reserve an item online and have it shipped to a selected store for pickup, you can select this option to promote your local products with pickup later annotation. You’ll have to provide the pickup method and turnaround time (pickup SLA) through your product or inventory data and the turnaround time must also be clearly displayed on your website’s product pages or at check out. Enter a URL to a product available for pickup later for validation. Learn more about pickup later requirements.

On display in store: With the on display in store feature, you can show products that can be experienced and bought in your stores but that are shipped directly to your customers. Enter a URL of your shipping policy for products on display in stores. Learn more About on display in store.

This step is required for merchants that know their physical stores’ inventory. After clicking Add inventory, you’ll be asked to provide inventory data using a file.

There are 3 options that can be used for inventory data file:

• Scheduled fetch: You’ll be requested to provide a link from which your inventory data file can be fetched, and set the schedule to when the inventory data file should be fetched.
• sFTP
• Manually uploading a feed: You can manually upload a file from your computer. Keep in mind inventory data should be uploaded at least once a day, to ensure up to date inventory information.

As an alternative, you can provide your inventory data via API. This option is recommended for merchants that have large quantities of inventory to manage. For more information, go to the Local inventory service API help.

This step is required for merchants that want to run local inventory ads or free local listings in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. You must provide the impressum (about page) of your website in accordance with Article 5 of the EU E-Commerce Directive as implemented by local laws

This step is for merchants whose product pages don’t show what’s in stock at their stores. You’ll need to submit an inventory verification contact who will coordinate the verification process with Google. This person can be different from the main admin contact in your Merchant Center account settings.

To start the process, follow these steps:

Select Verify inventory.

Provide contact information of your inventory verification contact.

Verify the inventory verification contact through email.

Click Request inventory verification.

In order to run Local Inventory Ads you must have a Google Ads account. In this step you must link your Google Ads account and your Merchant Center, if you haven’t done so. You must also enable local products in your campaigns (this step is not necessary if you use a Performance Max campaign).